needs to go back and doing his job and stop concentrating so much on the paralegal's breasts at the counsel table. >> stop looking at her. >> exactly. >> what a story. sunny. thank you so much. thank you for watching. i want to turn it over to my colleague up in washington. you have wolf blitzer in "the situation room." wolf, take it away. >> this hour, mitt romney and sarah palin on his turf and on his back about health care. stand by. congressman anthony weiner says he won't talk about the lewd photo controversy anymore but a day after he spoke to me and other reporters, a lot of people are not satisfied with the explanation that weiner has given. and another break with online hackers. it compromises hundreds of personal e-mail accounts and leaves some top u.s. officials feeling vulnerable.

internet analysts are warning that the bad guys are winning. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." supporters and rivals always knew this day would come, when he kicked off his second presidential campaign. after all, he's pretty much been running since he lost back in 2008. today romney declared that he's ready to take on president obama. >> when barack obama came to office, we wished him well and hoped for the best. now in the third year of his fourth year term or his four-year term, we have more than slogans and promises to judge him by. barack obama has failed america. >> before romney can have a shot at beating president obama, he must face his republican opponents in the lead off primary state of new hampshire. that's where romney announced

and candy crowley is there. we all listened to the speech carefully. does he sound like the front-runner for the republican nomination right now? >> reporter: completely he sounded like the front-runner. not a mention of any other republicans that are in this race or thinking about getting in this race, which is not all that unusual, i think, at this stage of the game. they have only had one debate. they will mix it up soon enough. but the fact is, he was very strong and he came out almost with a totality of his speech, you came away with what really was a broad side against all things of the obama administration, foreign and domestic. this was a very tough speech by a man who was ready really for the season finale rather than going through all of these other stages that obviously this contest has to go through. >> you had a chance, candy, to speak with him after he made the formal announcement.

why doesn't he think he will get the normal announcement this time when he failed four years ago? >> reporter: i think having a chance to speak with him is stretching it a little. we chased him down and he gave us one-sentence answers. they basically believe that the campaign is all a matter of timing for anyone and that the time is right and the economy is bed, his credentials fit into what the country is looking for at this point. his credentials as a businessman. what did he say? i said, look, do you think campaigning this second time around will be lovelier? he said, i hope so. i said, why do you think that? and he said because we're really going to go at it, something like that. but what they are counting on, this resume, even against a president that has been in office for four years, will nonetheless look very strong because they believe a year from this november americans are going to go to the voting boot and vote about jobs and nothing

else. >> we're going to get back to candy later. sarah palin, meanwhile, is warning mitt romney that he may have a tough time winning the votes of the tea party supporters. listen to sarah palin talking in romney's home state of massachusetts about a very touchy subject, the mandates in the health care plan he supported as governor of massachusetts. >> in my opinion, any mandate is not a good thing. obviously, and i'm not the only one to say so, there will be more the explanation coming from former governor romney on his support for government mandates. >> palin downplayed the fact that she's also visiting new hampshire today on the same day that romney is campaigning. >> if he personally would be offended by me stepping state in a state that he was in, i wouldn't do it. but i don't believe that governor romney is offended at

all. we happen to have on our schedule a stop to meet some good people and have some good new hampshire food at the same time not at all. not at all. and truly if he were to be personally offended by us being in the same state, i wouldn't do it. >> another big name republican flurrying with the presidential bid is stealing some of romney's thunder. we're talking about the former new york city mayor and former presidential candidate rudy giuliani. he's in new hampshire also today. this programming note, the presidential debate less than two weeks away, join us monday night june 13th as the republican hopeful square off on the issues. you'll see it only here on cnn. congressman weiner's attempt to put this controversy behind him doesn't seem to be completely worthy.

some of his own colleagues, including democrats, still want answer about that lewd photo briefly placed on his twitter account. let's go to kate who has the latest for us. >> reporter: since early this morning and throughout the day we were trying to track down answers to many of these lingering questions but it is clear that congressman weiner is ready and wanting to change the subject. congressman anthony weiner says he's done answering questions about his twitter controversy and now wants to get back to work. >> yesterday, i think from 1:00 to almost 10:00, i sat down and did interviews with anyone that wanted to answer questions extensively, made it very clear i did not send picture that my twitter account had been hacked and apparently it's been successful. >> but it's answers like this in his interview with wolf blitzer that have raised even more questions. >> have you ever taken a picture like this of yourself? >> i can tell you this. that there are -- i have photographs. i don't know what photographs are out there in the world of me. i don't know what things have

been manipulated and doctored and we're going to try to find out what happened. >> reporter: evasiveness that drew strong words from the number two house republican on fox news. >> the advice would be to come clean and clear it up. again, perhaps he's trying but i know there's a lot of explaining going on without a lot of clarity. and, again, the american people are right in saying that they don't have tolerance for this repeated kind of activity going on surrounding their elective leaders. >> reporter: and this from the number two house democrat who says he has spoken with weiner. we caught up with him outside of the capital and asked him about the fallout. >> we had a brief discussion at which point in time i told him he needed to handle this and give the facts accurately to the public. >> reporter: now, democratic aide continue the tension and ongoing controversy is pulling away from what democrats want to be talking about, things like the deficit. and republican aides have made it clear that they are happy to

stand by and watch democrats being thrown off their message. wolf? >> the chair of the dnc later here in "the situation room." we'll get her thoughts on that subject and others as well. kate, thank you very much. before this controversy broke, weiner was known for his frequent media appearances, providing a feisty democratic voice on various issues. still, you may not necessarily know a lot about him. suzanne malveaux fills in the blanks. >> reporter: anthony weiner is new york to the core. born in brooklyn to a lawyer and school teacher. he aimed to be a tv weather man and when that didn't work he turned to politics and hanging out with good friend comedian jon stewart. six years after college, he mounted a long shot bid for new york city council. he turned his scrappy nature into votes and at age 27 became at the time the youngest person

elected to the council. quickly, the coming up thorn in the side of fellow councilman and new york mayor david dickins weiner replaced him in the house. on capitol hill, weiner cemented his reputation as a liberal liberal fighting for women rights and gun control. he's known for his determination and feistiness and the time that he took on peter king to provide medical care for 9/11 first responders. >> if you believe it's the wrong thing, you vote no. we are following up procedure. i will not yield and the gentleman will observe regular order. >> reporter: but he does have a soft side. last july, weiner married long-time aide to hillary clinton and became the only jewish member of congress to

marry a devout muslim. >> she's a remarkable, remarkable woman. she married a congressman. she knows a little something about living in public life. she knows that with that goes a certain amount of aggravation. i don't think she imagined that it would be this. >> reporter: that is perhaps an understatement. suzanne malveaux, cnn, atlanta. hackers went phishing for information and struck gold. we'll tell you how they did it. also, why attacks on the president's economic record are spinning the white house sort of badly right now. stay with us. you're in the situation.

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and the 100% natural whole grain oats can help lower your cholesterol. you are so sweet to me. bee happy. bee healthy. let's go right to jack. he has the cafferty file. jack? >> to quote a dear author and friend of mine, it's getting ugly out there. housing prices have fallen below what it was in 2002. a slow down in consumer spending, take your pick. not a lot of rosy news on the

economy this week. so much for that whole recovery thing. stocks got slammed on the bad economic data. dow jones industrial up more than 2% and dow and s&p were lower again today. the big employment report for the month of may comes out tomorrow morning. economists are hoping to see 185,000 new jobs. ain't going to happen. and if it doesn't, there t could be another wild day for the markets. talk of a double dip recession is heating up among economists. mark told a foreign correspondence club in tokyo that another financial crisis is just around the corner because little has changed to regulate what caused the last economic crisis. the derivatives market. new rules to regulate derivatives is scheduled to roll out later this year. gee, what's the hurry? and others are in the pipeline. but lawmakers are putting up a fight and keeping that thing as slow as possible. it all comes at a time when washington is trying to figure out how to cut spending in order

to lower the deficit and moody investor service slashes the u.s. credit rating if our lawmakers don't make significant progress on budget talks by july. out of fear, the u.s. could default on it is loans. it's going to be a very long, very hot summer. the question is this, do you believe that another financial crisis is around the corner? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. the storm clouds are gathering. >> a lot of people are really worried and for good reason. thank you. i'll be interested to hear what our viewers think as well. president obama and other members of the team are holding a collective breath. the government's may job comes out 8:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. we'll all be eagerly awaiting the number. and the white house is eager especially. some might say desperate for the good news. they are hoping for good news, especially as the presidential campaign heats up. let's go to the white house.

our correspondent dan lothian is standing by. this is it. the economy and jobs, issue number one. >> reporter: it's the critical issue. while there's a lot of uncertainty in the economy, still the white house is trying to focus on what has been done to this point, how far things have come. nonetheless, the numbers show that there are still a lot of americans out there having a hard time finding work. wall street depends on various indicators to measure the health of the economy. at dress for success, the clothing indicator offers a fitting view at main street. >> a lot of our clients are women with degrees, working for 25-plus years and now laid off. so it's not the same type of client that we've seen in the past. >> reporter: this nonprofit organization provides clothing. >> they get their three suits. >> reporter: and counseling for women looking for work.

>> i know something is going to happen. >> reporter: but the economic news isn't rosy and landing a job isn't easy. new unemployment claims stayed above 400,000 for the eighth week in a row last week. worse than economists had expected. sensing an opportunity, republican presidential candidate mitt romney launched a verbal attack on president obama and his economic policies. as he announced his own bid for the white house. >> barack obama has failed america. >> reporter: responding to that attack, white house spoke man jay carney said that the president was not ready to engage in 2012 politics and then the hemorrhaging of jobs. >> the president took dramatic action. we have now experienced 14 straight months of private sector job creation, 2.1 million jobs created. >> reporter: but many people are still skept skal. the latest poll shows 58% of americans disapprove of how the

president is handling the economy. white house aides admit there is still a long road ahead and that unemployment remains unacceptably high. >> we want them suited from head to toe. >> reporter: they know that, too. refefrls have jumped from 150 to more than 250 per month now. >> we have ladies frustrated and come here day after day applying to numerous jobs each day and just not hearing anything. >> again, everyone will be paying attention to those job numbers tomorrow. all of this taking place as lawmakers, democrats, republicans, and this white house are engaged with discussions on deficit and debt reduction. of course, there's this big concern that if there is not quick action, that the fragile economy could be further impacted. wolf? >> with the unemployment number coming out tomorrow morning, are we expecting to hear directly from the president tomorrow? >> reporter: no word on whether we will hear from the president, wolf. in times past, though, we have gotten either releases from the white house or the president himself has come out depending on what those numbers are.

the bottom line is, this message will continue to be the same. that even if there is some improvement, that there's still a long way to go. >> my suspicion is that if the numbers are bad, we'll hear from austan goolsbee or gene sperling. >> that's usually the way it works. governor chris christie is adamant that he did nothing wrong for using a state helicopter for a personal troop. why is money being refunded to the state? we'll cover that. hackers, the most popular providers to target u.s. government officials. we're going to tell you what they may have learned. ♪ or get one fixed. ♪ with highly trained tech experts, staples makes trouble-shooting and repairing technology just the way you want it -- easy. easy to buy. easy to fix. easy to save. staples. that was easy.

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a woman who made

international headlines saying that she was raped by security forces in libya is being sent back to libya. lisa sylvester is monitoring that from "the situation room." what is happening here? >> this is somewhat troubling. officials are refusing to say why they refused to deport the woman whose alleged rape by security forces, a case that received worldwide attention. a military plane carrying her and her parents arrived in benghazi, libya. u.n. officials say her case was on track. they say repeated requests were ignored and the state department is now working with international organizations to try to get her to a country that will offer asylum. the california couple who abducted 11-year-old jaycee dugard and kept her captive for 18 years will likely spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

phillip phillip garrido was sentenced to 431 years to life and his wife nancy to 36 years. in a statement by her mother in court called the couple evil. apparently not all appearances last as long as the one in egypt. the first lady was present for the udda pyramid is being scrapped. critics say that it is confusing and over emphasizes grains in the diet and replacing the pyramid is a new plate icon consisting of 50% fruits and vegetables and grains and lean protein. wolf, i'm sure you get all of your fruits and vegetables. >> i could go with that every single night. >> i think it's a great idea and something that people can relate to. >> grain, protein, what's wrong with that? >> it's all good stuff. >> yep.

thank you. imagine losing a 40-year war. critics say that's exactly what is happening with america's war on drugs. we're taking a closer look at the alternatives, including legal lie zags. and new battles in the streets of yemen happening right now. hundreds of armed tribesman are entering the capital. stand by. [ male announcer ] you know there are germs

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ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and talk to chuck about ttd# 1-800-345-2550 rolling over that old 401k. you've been seeing one stunning hacking incident after another. and now this, the target personal e-mail accounts and the victims including high level u.s. government officials. brian todd is working this story for us. brian, who got hacked, where, and why? >> one of the most popular providers to target u.s. government secrets. google says the personal e-mail accounts of several hundred people have been breached. google says hackers tapped into the so-called g-mail accounts of government officials, military

personnel, chinese political activists and officials of asian countries like south korea. u.s. officials are quick to make one distinction. >> we have no reason to believe that any government accounts were accessed. >> reporter: but google says that the hacker he is got into personal accounts. directing users to fake g-mail sites and then when they signed in would hack their passwords. for a demonstration, we went to founder of invincea, a cyber company that works with agencies to prevent attacks. they set up a mock e-mail, a fictitious state department employee getting a personal e-mail from secretary of state hillary clinton. >> so if this is my personal inbox, how am i getting spear

fished here? >> so what is happening, you're getting an e-mail from it looks like your boss, the secretary. naturally, even though it's in your personal e-mail, you're going to check it. >> click on it, right. >> then what happens? >> as a state department employee, i'm interested in what is in this document and it's coming from the secretary. so what i'm going to do is click on it. >> click on the download. >> right. >> okay. >> now, the spear fish is, this was targeted -- it appeared to come from someone important. >> who you knew? >> who i knew. and as part of my job, i'm going to open that by clicking on it and what is actually happening is instead of loading this document, it redirects me to another site. >> reporter: a site that can download a virus on to your computer. how can hackers use personal e-mail accounts to get into classified networks?

>> say i'm a government employee. what the hackers are counting on is me bringing my work-issued laptop home with me, accessing my personal e-mail, if i click on a link, that downllyods a virus on to my computer. at that point the hackers are on to my employer's network and can move around. >> they can move around for a search of classified search, secret designs, plans, blueprints. >> google did not say whether it believed that any government did this. contacted by cnn, a chinese foreign ministry official says that it is baseless and with ulterior motives. no one is saying which u.s. officials were targeted. >> sophisticated hackers could make it look like it was coming from china but really coming from someplace else. >> that's right. a chinese official told me that.

hackers can mask any attack to look like it came from anywhere and you would never be able to tell where it came from. it could have come from organized crime or from maybe another government entity. we may never know in this case. >> hacktivist? >> they are very sophisticated and can create havoc if they want to. >> don't share your password, try not to. >> right. it's pay back time for governor chris christie. he's taking new action today to try to avoid the controversy over the helicopter ride. >> he is saying that is he going to reimburse the state for two chopper rides and this comes a day after cominging under fire from state democrats who called him a hypocrite for using the helicopter at a time when he called for deep budget cuts. the criticism came after christie was photographed on

tuesday, arriving at his son's baseball game in a state police helicopter. christy, though, is not apologizing. he defended his use of the chopper and said that he's trying to balance his work as the governor with being a father and had harsh words for the media, blaming them for harping on the story. so today he wrote a check to the state treasury that totals more than $2100. christie is saying that he wrote the check so this wouldn't be a distraction. >> i've got a lot of important work to do. i've got a $54 billion pension under funding i'm trying to solve, a $67 billion health insurance problem i'm trying to solve and if me writing a check for $2100 and a $1200 check from the state committee to pay for these two helicopter rides will allow us to focus on the really important issues to the state of new jersey, then i'm willing to do it. >> now, the governor you just heard there said that he wrote a check for more than $2100.

he split the bill with the state republican party and after he left the baseball game on tuesday night, he had gone to meet with republicans from iowa at the governor's residence and so the total bill, wolf, came out to more than $3,000. >> all right. so i guess he's doing it to make it look better. thanks very much for that, mary snow reporting. three may have been a crowd in new hampshire today. for mitt romney, the newly announced presidential candidate. here's a question. is he being upstaged, though, by sarah palin and rudy giuliani, both of whom are in new hampshire as well? we are standing by for a strategy session. and the shock and damage from the deadly tornadoes in the heart of new england.

an outbreak of a rare string of e. coli has killed 16 people in europe and thousands of people are sick. three people have actually been hospitalized in the united states. they are likely to have been stricken by the same strain, according to the cdc. let's go to elizabeth cohen. elizabeth, first of all, what do we know about these three patients here in the united states? >> wolf, what we know is that all three of them have recently traveled to hamburg, germany. and that's the reason why officials think that these are likely cases. they have come down with a syndrome that is the dreaded complication of e. coli. it can devastate kidneys, people often die from it. wolf? >> how concerned should we actually be? are we seeing more cases of what is called this hus strain in

jur europe. >> there's no reason for panic. this strain has not been found in the united states. these three people contracted it, if they have it, in germany. and this disease rarely spreads from person to person. this is going to be something that we see that people get in europe and then travel here. >> so what can doctors do to fix this problem if you come down with it and deal with this bacteria? >> you know, wolf, unfortunately, they can't do much. they can't actually get to the bacteria. if you give people with this e. coli antibiotics, it actually can make it worse. and the reason why is that the antibiotics kind of explode the bacteria and toxins actually get spit out and then can get into the person's bloodstream and become toxic. so they don't want that to happen. there's not much they can do. they can give pain medications if their kidneys fail and put them on dialysis but not much

more than that. >> how can people protect themselves? >> there's unfortunately not much they can do. they don't know exactly what food is causing it. so they don't know what foods to avoid. everybody should practice good hand hygiene, et cetera, all of the things that you should be doing on a regular basis anyhow. >> i was in germany three weeks ago for a few days. did i have to worry at all? is three weeks enough time for this to have gone away? >> if you are not sick by now, and thank goodness that you are not, that you are likely to be sick with this. >> and you catch it by eating fruits and vegetables? >> yes. e. coli can come from eating with fruits and vegetables or hamburgers, it can come from different sources. but the origin usually is an animal. sometimes the animal ends up infecting something like spinach like we saw years ago. >> good thing i had beer in

germany and not too many fruits and vegetables. >> there you go. >> all right. elizabeth, this is serious business. people in europe are very, very worried about this, right now, especially in jeerm knee. human rights groups pushing the death toll to 900. activists meeting in turkey are urging the turkey president to simply step down and leave. the u.s. government is calling for assad to end the violence or get out of the way. secretary of state hillary clinton said it's difficult to rally support for tough action against syria. listen to this. >> right now the attitude of the international community is not as united as we are seeking to make it. we do not yet have the agreement by some of the other members of the security counsel scouncil. the arab league took with respect to libya.

>> let's go to yemen right now wherein creasing violence is being reported in the capital anti-government tribes and a clash with security troops. for more with this dramatic escalation. >> reporter: on thursday there is government forces that intensified. one extremely worrying for eyewitnesss that a group of 1,000 armed tribesman entered the capital during the early morning hours saying that they are supporting a leader of a tribe that has been in street battles with government forces for over a week. as fierce fighting conditions, it spread to even more neighborhoods. at one point a security official said inbound and outbound flights have been halted due to security concerns and clashes at the airport. but the official that wasn't authorized to speak to the media said that the airport itself was

not closed. they denied that any airports have been delayed. many are free to leave their houses. many are also concerned that their country is per lousily close to all out war and it's gotten a lot more intense since wednesday night because special forces are now involved, adding that elite units in the city is continuing. eyewitnesss tell us that yesterday there were even more clashes between security forces and anti-government demonstrators. we're also told that tribesmen who eyewitnesss say were there to protect the anti-government demonstrators were involved in the clashes as well. cn cnn. >> we will discuss the entire region sweeping north africa and the middle east right here in

"the situation room." is sarah palin upstaging mitt romney? the day he planned to grab the headlines? and is there anything that he can do about it? that's next. also, 40 years after president nixon declared a war on drugs, the high panel says it's unwinnable. the alternatives now being suggested, including legalization. we're going indepth.

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presidential politics is our strategy session. joining us, our political contributor, paul, and ari. thanks very much for coming in. did you think that it was unusual that on this day argue glee the front-runner announces that he's running for sarah palin in new hampshire, rudy giuliani is in new hampshire? are they trying to upstage him a little bit? >> wolf, when you're one of ten people running for president and there may be a couple more than that that ultimately get in, i think you have no expectation of domination. i think all in all mitt romney

had a very good day today. he was able to be on the cables for certain parts of his speech and he got his case out there about why he would be better than barack obama. so he accomplished what he needed to do today. he won't be able to dominate the weak. he won't even be able to dominate it for a few days. and you have to throw into it the maybe candidates, like sarah palin or rudy giuliani. it's all part of the republican mix that is unusual but all republicans have to get used to it. this is what happens when you don't have a front-runner. >> it looks like, paul, that sarah palin and rudy giuliani are poking their fingers in his eye, on this supposedly the big day for him when he makes the dramatic announcement. >> well, they clearly are upstaging him. he makes a good point. he's just a great looking guy with a gorgeous family. beautiful strong visuals and get overshadowed by the half term former governor of alaska and by

mayor giuliani. and this is the problem that he's going to have, should he ever confront barack obama, because barack obama has a lot of talent. but even before that, he's the front-runner but he will have a field that will go after him and i think with some justification on this question of flip-flops, political character, and political character. is he the mitt romney who signed romney care, which had a mandate for health insurance on which barack obama based obama care? or is he the guy now who says i'm on the same page with paul ryan on the plan that "the wall street journal" says would essentially end medicare? is he the guy who says he's pro life or is he the guy who was the governor of massachusetts and said he was pro choice? is he anti-gay marriage now or is he the guy who debated ted kennedy once and said that he would be more pro gay rights than ted kennedy? which unless you're involved with a guy, it's hard to be more pro gay rights than senator kennedy. >> the charisma or the

electrifying the crowd problem, you know, he gave a good speech, a solid speech. he basically ignored all of the other republican candidates. he went right after president obama. but that crowd there certainly didn't react. if sarah palin was giving that announcement, there would have been thousands and thousands of people. they would have been really wit it is the wrong question. i don't think this is an election that will be decided on the basis of charisma. it will be based on the economy. that's where you will see republicans hone in as mitt romney did today and all the republicans cry to do. cnn has a poll out that came out this week that showed 58% of the country disapproves president obama's job on the economy. 57% disapproval on health care. record high 64% disapproval on the deficit. 73% disapprove of the president's job on gas prices. the president's got economic vulnerabilities i think you are going to see the republicans run on. if the issue is who can give the best speech off of the

teleprompter? then barack obama gets re-elected. i don't think that's what the focus is going to be. >> let me just bring paul in with us. it is fair to say if there is a double-dip recession, if the economy takes a turn for the worse now, that puts the president in a really bad position for re-election. >> absolutely. will is no doubt that fleischer's boss, george w. bush, ruined the economy. lit take us years and years to get out of the disaster. it was not bush alone. for jobs message, turn to a guy like mitt romney that created thousands of jobs. mostly in india because he shut down jobs and factories here. shipped jobs overseas. governor of massachusetts, 47, state was 47th in job generation ahead only of louisiana and indiana. louisiana devastated by katrina.

michigan and indiana, rustbelt states. he has terrible record. he is the poster boy for outsourcing. if that's who the republicans want to put up in a jobs election, i wish him well. >> look, the president's probably going to raise by the end of the month already $60 million. on his way to raising maybe a billion dollars. he has no democratic opponent and could spend all of this that money going after the republicans. all of whom are fighting it out amongst themselves and no way they are going to raise any money along those lines. sit your belief that money talks and politics and that will be a decisive factor? >> sometimes it talks and sometimes it doesn't. political battlefield is lined with candidates with more money that lost their races. the big factor, this cycle will be the economy. i think he will need every penny he can raise because of how bad unemployment has been and how -- huge the deficit is and the

debt. those are the hurdles no amount of money can get you lou. he can buy a lot of ads and will be an initial short-term advantage and significant one for president obama likely this paul and into the winter and spring. i think the likelihood is once republicans have a nominee, polls come out and show that person is relatively close to barack obama in the polls, republicans will have all the money they need to compete and it will be a short-term advantage for the president, though. >> is it romney's nomination to lose, paul? >> i think it is. republicans -- always -- >> here's -- it is -- >> there is no frontline. >> i should defer to him. as an outsider, democrat, republicans usually mom nature the guy that lost the last time. ford beat reagan and nominated reagan the last time. reagan beat bush. nominated bush. bush beat dole. nominated bowl last time. mccain got it the next time. mccain beat romney. i could be wrong. it seems to me they no, ma'am

mate the oldest white guy in line. i think that means mitt. >> yeah, this cycle has shown there is nothing to that. paul is right about the history of the republican party with the exception of 2000 when george w. bush got the nomination. there was no cycle of who the front-runner whack back then on based on previous races. this time too wide open. nobody moving up in the polls. this is a perfect time important the candidate to put his head down and do the hard work of raising money and building volunteer networks and do it out of the glare of the press. one step at a time. that's what the spring of an election year like this -- year before an election should test. ability to get it organized and raise money and build networks and that's what you need in iowa and spring you forward in new hampshire. that's the task. >> we are going to leave it there. alert our viewers, get ready monday night, mitt romney will be a guest on "piers morgan tonight." we are looking forward to that interview as well. jack cafferty is asking do you believe if another financial crisis is around the corner?

we will find out what the voters in new york are saying and about congressman weiner and the lewd photo posted on his twitter account. stand by. at 190 miles per hour, the wind will literally lift ordinary windshield wipers off the glass. so, did we build a slower car?

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right back to jack. he has the cafferty file. >> question this hour, wolf, do you believe in other financial crisis around the corner? lot of people who know about these rings starting to fear that very thing. alex in washington says all bets are off, jack. debt ceiling isn't raised and america goes bankrupt, while the private sector still showing slow but sustainable job growth lack of stimulus money is forcing layoffs by state and local governments. looks like we are headed for a double-dip recession. randy says with the middle class shrinking and rich benefitting from that, the financial crisis never ended. in fact the financial crisis began for minorities and poor whites in the 1980s. with ronald reagan's trickle-down nonsense. chris writes -- how can we worry about the next one if we are still not out of this one? not by a long shot. terry in virginia -- another i don't believe we are out of the current one. it seems never ending. our elected officials get an

a-plus in things like blaming the other party and increasing corporate welfare and showing par partiality towards the rich. between don't need medicare and social security reform. we need reforming of congress. let's keep throwing them out every election until they finally listen to the majority. the middle class and poor. donna in wisconsin says only if the republicans continue to tie the debt issue to the deficit if the debt ceiling is not raised we will see a catastrophic recession like greece. two issues are separate and should be addressed separately. i hope that the democrats can prevail. bob in pennsylvania, could be, jack. i don't know for sure. here is one thing i do know. if there is ron paul will have newfound credibility as a 2012 candidate. danny writes -- around the corner, around the block, around the world, yes. borrowing from peter to pay paul only works if you are paul. it doesn't work if you are a government bailing out banks or a country bailing out other

countries. at least not in the long term. the band-aids are about to come unstuck. peter is all about kaput. want to read more on the subject, find it on my blog. cnn.com/caffertyfile. >> jack, thank you. to our viewers, you are in "the situation room." happening now, early gop front-runner now officially running for president of the united states. mitt romney launching his 2012 bid in new hampshire with some swipes at president obama. two arrive 58s show up will and take swipes at romney. rare monster storms turn massachusetts into a tornado alley. you are going to see what happened when they hit and the shocking devastation they left behind. coming in, high-level panel now declaring the global war on drugs unwinnable. is the next step legalization? breaking news. political headlines and jeanne moos straight ahead. i'm wolf blitzer. you are in "the situation room."

several days now congressman anthony weiner has been trying sometimes clumsily to end the drama over a lewd photo that briefly appeared on his twitter account. still not clear if it was a picture of the congressman in his underwear or if he sent it to a young college student or all the work of a hacker. today congressman weiner gave it another shot. listen to this. >> is this a good spot? okay. good morning. yesterday from 1:00 to almost 10:00 i sat down and did interviews with anyone that wanted to answer questions extensively. made it very clear i did not send a picture my twitter account had been hacked in this prank. apparently it been successful but after 11 hours of answering questions, today i have to get back to work doing the job i'm paid to do. i appreciate your patience and

understanding. if i can do anything to make you more comfortable while sitting in the hallway let me know. thank you. >> fair enough. how's all this playing in his district? new york democrat's home district. let's go to new york. mary snow has been taking a closer look. how are the folks at his district reacting to all of this? >> one word we did hear was very odd. in terms of the reaction that they were giving us. to give you an idea of the kind of support democratic congressman has in his district, won 61% of the vote in 2010. he's gained reputation as one woman described it as a hot-head but someone outspoken and blunt. and the reason some say they are scratching their heads about what they have heard from anthony weiner the last few days. in forest hills, queens, you don't have go far to find supporters of congressman anthony weiner's in the democrat district. you don't have to go far to find

suspicions about the way he's answering questions about a lewd picture to a student in washington state. he blames the incident on a prank. >> is this you? >> i can tell you this. we have a firm we hired to -- i have seen it. it is -- i have seen it. a firm we hired to try to get to the bottom of it. it does not look familiar to me but i don't want to say with certitude -- >> you didn't send that photo that that woman in washington state? >> i did not. >> you are not 100% sure whether the photo is you? >> what i am going to say is we are going do everything to do to answer that question. we are doing an investigation. >> linda spiegel says it is not the picture that she cares about. >> i really don't. >> reporter: do you care how he handles it? >> yes. i care how he handles it. >> reporter: how has he handled it? >> not well. it is odd that he's -- it is odd the way he's just not, you know -- he's changing -- he's not giving the complete story.

>> reporter: one constituent says weiner needs to say no more about. >> it he moved on. that's one thing i like about him. he is a strong individual and decided to move on. >> reporter: betweener is seen here as more than just a congressman. rather a potential mayor. he sought and lost the democratic mayoral primary in 2005 and has been rumored to want the job in 2013. republican banks says while she didn't support him for congress she saw herself supporting him for mayor. now she is not so sure. >> i think he is a smart guy. i think that he really acted stupidly. >> reporter: while some say if it turns out that the congressman isn't telling the truth, it would stain his reputation but we didn't find anyone who said flat out that they wouldn't support him any longer. >> got a lot of support in that district in new york. thank you. let's get more now on the social media mess that congressman weiner finds himself in. we will turn to the chief political analyst gloria borger. every election cycle there is a

new social networking tool that politicians love and happens to be twitter right now. >> yeah, it is. because it is a great promoti promotional tool, if you are a politician, you are able to get your message across and brand yourself very clearly in 140 characters. you don't have us asking you pesky questions. if you take a look at some that's used it to her advantage, sarah palin is at the top of the list. there she is in alaska. on the speech circuit and able to inject herself into any policy discussion. remember the impact she had on the health care debate. she was than even here in washington. she can also target her audience, wolf. she knows that her millions of twitter followers are conservatives and if she runs for president, those are going to be people who are voting in the republican primaries. so she's used it quite well. >> 140 characters or less. we know that -- there could be a serious problem when -- when a tweet goes bad. >> yeah. when a tweet goes bad it is

heard around the world. instantaneo instantaneously. remember way back in the olden days in 2006, we were all talking about youtube. that was the big thing. senator george allen was running for re-election. he said something he shouldn't have. the video went viral. it still took a weekend, wolf, for it to have an impact and he had to apologize for it. a wheat is instantaneous. the problem with a tweet is then it gets spoken about in witnesser and there is an echo chamber there. one other thing. particularly if you are a politician. you cannot say that your tweet was taken out of context because there is no context. it is just your tweet. it can be a real problem. >> i'm tweeting all the time and have a lot of followers out there. i write my own tweets. a lot of the politicians pretend they are writing their tweets. they have a staff person writing their tweets. >> yes, they do. we are all looking for some sense of authenticity. people complain these people are

phony. we don't know who they really are. again, politicians can use this to say here is who i truly am. some of them tweet their own stuff. some of them make mistakes when they do it, misspellings, et cetera. lots of them have their staff tweeting for them. they say watch me tonight on "situation room with wolf blitzer." what you establish sometimes is a false sense of inty mass write. particularly if the politician himself engages with the person who is tweeting to them. then people begin to think that they know you better than they know you. that may be what happened with anthony weiner. politicians want to be break down a wall but sometimes the voters are taken in. because they are not talking to the politician or they are being used by the politician who, after all, just wants to promote himself. >> whether what i love about twitter, i have almost a half a million followers. i send out a wheat. it goes out to all of them.

many of them will retweet it to their followers. and if i'm -- washington wizards basketball game, i'm tweeting about the game, the nba will re-tweet it. within seconds i'm saying something about -- you know, a player, whatever, and millions of people will be getting that instantaneous. >> i imagine if you are running for office. and you are running for the presidency. and you want to have as big a platform as you possibly can have. twitter is so important to you. you have to be very, very careful and people who read the tweets people who run for the presidency or for political office also have to understand that sometimes, you know, they are being taken in. yes. >> thanks very much. let's go to jack. he has more on this controversy for us. i know you don't -- do you, jack, do you tweet directly? >> never. >> all right. >> i wouldn't know how to do it

if somebody held a gun to my head. >> not that complicate. >> that's all right. i will take your word for it. you did a terrific interview yesterday with the congressman, anthony weiner. watching it, it was like watching one of those buddhist monks set himself on fire. you feel for the guy but you can't stop watching. weiner spent a lot of time trying to dig himself out after hole but the hole keeps getting bigger. the incident in question, as you heard, this lewd feet opponent sent from weiner's twitter account to a college student. it went to 45,000 other people as well. that was bad enough. watching the way weiner's handling the media circus surrounding it, that's even worse. in fact, it might kill his career. maybe he should take a lesson from new jersey governor chris christie. remember yesterday we told you he flew in a state helicopter to his son's baseball game. bad move for a budget conscious guy. bad move for any public office holder. today he went forward and said i

made a mistake. i shouldn't have done it. here is what i'm willing to do. i paid the cost of the helicopter out of my pocket. $2,500. chances are he will never take a state aircraft to a kid's baseball gwen game again and that story is over with. for weiner, not happening. prior to what's being called weiner-gate, what a name, the congressman, outspoken articulate liberal, has been rumored to thinking of running for mayor of new york city in 2013. the events of the last couple of days could endanger that big time. weiner represents the district in queens as mary snow was reporting in brooklyn. traditionally it votes democratic. last year faced his toughest battle for re-election in his 13-year congressional career he only got 59% of the vote. all previous races he won more than 66% of the votes. the run for any office still a couple of years away. a lot can happen in politics. political scandals come and go all the time. to say he mishandled this is an understatement. the question is this.

can congressman anthony weiner survive weiner-gate? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. watching what you did with him yesterday is watching a chicken on a rotisserie, just cook. >> he can come back. i have seen politicians come back from a lot worse than this. >> he can but he ought to know better. he is a new york guy and -- there's -- there are ways to do these things. christie did the right thing today. he said yeah, i screwed up. here is the $2,500. i will never do it again. >> american public understands if you make a mistake and you apologize, not going to happen again. if you try to cover it up and try to become too clever, that's -- that's where the problem is. >> yeah. the american -- right. american public is forgiving. when people admit mistakes, they say okay, give me another chance. this guy is -- coming off of his too slick -- >> he still has time. we will see what he does. what are congressman weiner's colleagues saying about the controversy? we will get reaction from

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rescuers are among those targeted in a rash of bombings in iraq now. lisa sylvester is monitoring that. other top stories within the situation room. >> multiple bomb blasts ripped through the main marketplace in the western iraqi city of ahmady tod today. ramadi. today. rescuers were rushing to help the victims of the blast. the fbi investigating whether a suicide bomber who killed two african union soldiers in

somalia was, in fact, an american citizen. a somali mihmtant group tlitantd to man from minnesota. yam yam is home to the largest somali population in the united states. officials believe a number of men have been recruited by the militant group. one of the tech scene's hottest start-up is going public. groupon filed for a public offering with a target of $750 million. the chicago based company offers its 83 million subscribers daily discounts to local businesses and the filing is revealing the financial details for the first time including a $114 million loss and m the first quarter of this year. no groupon -- groupon is popular with many groups. >> but losing money. >> they are. but that happens with a lot of these tech start-ups. we will see what happens in the future. mitt romney making it official today announcing he

wants to replace president obama. >> now in the third year of his fourth year term or four-year term, we have more than slowing sxans promises to judge him by. barack obama has failed america. >> we are getting reaction from democratic congresswoman debbie because ehrmann, chair of the democratic committee. she is stand big live. high-level panel of power players deems the u.s. war on drugs simply unwinnable. wait until you see what they are now suggesting. when police wouldn't look for a stolen laptop one man took matters into his own hands. you are going to want to see it right here in the situation room. building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download,

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killer tornadoes are rare in new england. which may have made them all the more terrifying for massachusetts residents. powerful storms simply sliced through a mum of communities yesterday killing four people and damaging hundreds of buildings. cnn's jason carroll brings us a closer look. >> reporter: when you hear that term tornado alley, most people don't think of springfield, massachusetts. let alone people who live here in this neighborhood. when you look at the street behind me, that is tornado alley. looked at the yellow house off its foundation and turned it partially on its side. this house here, another example. this house here all destroyed across the street and -- that -- brick apartment building will have to either be demolished or the reason they have it cordoned off here is because they are fearing that at this point the build sing going to collapse. but in speaking to some of the people in the neighborhood many of them saw the tornado coming.

and didn't take it seriously until it was too late. simply because most people in these parts are not used to tornadoes. a few close calls in the neighborhood. one particular man who lives just a block from here, dave. he basically was getting off of work and was on his way home and got caught in the storm. and -- got out of his car and also had his iphone on. so he was rolling the entire time, regarding what was happening as he was getting out of his car and as trees were being uprooted and trying to make it inside the house. you can hear him yelling and screaming above the howling wind -- let me in, let me in, let me in.did finally get safel inside. we had the opportunity to speak to him what that experience was zblik it happ so quick. people say it happens quickly. by the time i got out of the truck to the house the tornado was there. started banging on the door.

there was nothing between me and the rest of the trees coming my way. people say your life flashes before your eyes. trees were flashing before my eyes. >> reporter: once again, dave lives a block away from where we are standing now. his house ended up sustaining very little damage but then you look at what we see here. again, just a block away, this shows you what tornadoes do. you can have utter destruction on one block and then one block away, things can look like will was than even a storm. again, people here now just coming bam to the neighborhoods and trying to assess the damage. still trying on get their heads around exactly what happened here. wolf? >> jason carroll on the scene for news massachusetts. we wish the folks there only the best. mitt romney making it official today. he is running for president of the united states. has he already been upstaged by two potential rivals? california man gets his stolen laptop back after it takes secret pictures of the alleged thief. 40 years -- 40 years, global war

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an early front-runner among presidential hopefuls is now officially running for president. former massachusetts governor mitt romney announcing today his candidacy in the first primary state. that would be new hampshire. romney took some very sharp swipes at president obama. even as sarah palin and rudy giuliani appeared in the same state and took swipes at romney. let's go live to our chief political correspondent candy crowley. she is in new hampshire watching all of this unfold. how did it go today?

>> reporter: i think it went exactly as the romney campaign wanted it to go. it was perfect day. pictures looked good. the candidate was on message and stayed on message and that message was he's out to replace barack obama. >> appreciate your help. >> reporter: he is the heaviest hitter in the republican field now. and mitt romney came to play. >> now in the third year of his fourth year term or four-year term, we have more than slogans and promises to judge it by. barack obama has failed america. you know, if you want to create jobs, it helps to have actual had a job and i have. >> reporter: including the president's health care plan, not unlike the one romney signed as governor of massachusetts. an uncomfortable similarity he tossed off in a single line not perfect but a state solution towards a state's problem. >> reporter: on the banner

beneath his name the words were believe in america. >> president obama's european answers are not the solution to america's challenges. >> reporter: romney's economy centric bid comes as a trifecta of discouraging headlines. skittish stock market and stubborn jobless rate. look who else showed up in new hampshire. also playing rough with the massachusetts health care plan. >> health care plan -- in my opinion, any mandate coming from government is not a good thing. obviously -- i'm not the only one to say so but there will be more of an explanation coming from former governor romney on his support for government mandates. >> reporter: sarah palin says it is just a big coincidence she arrived in new hampshire in the middle of romney's speech. insists there is nothing political about her fore and see

no, sir reason romney should be offended. as he ladled out chili he didn't seem to be. >> here you go. >> that's terrific. new hampshire is an action central today. >> reporter: health care plan won't sell with the tea party. as you can hear, wolf, certainly romney did not today want to answer questions about that massachusetts plan. but whether it is sarah palin or reporters are those in crowd certainly a question he's apt to be asked as he starts his campaign. >> candy crowley on the scene for news new hampshire. a state awful us will be visiting a lot in the coming months. let's get reaction now to what romney did today. joining us now is congresswoman wasserman. new chair of the democratic national committee. congressman, thanks for coming in. >> thank you. >> let's talk about romney. he really went after the president. he ignored his republican opponents for the nomination. he took direct hits at the

president of the united states. calling him a failed president, if you will. how worried are you about romney as the potential republican no, ma'am me? >> well, wolf, mitt romney has a puzzling definition of failure. looking at the president's -- president's record, he is taking our economy from -- being literally about being thrown off a cliff and turn things around. fast forward 2 1/2 years after he took the reins of this country. we have added just last month 286,000 jobs to the private sector. you have steady 14 months straight of job growth in the private sector and you have an economy that is -- is really beginning to pick up the pace. so if that's been romney's definition of failure, it is a puzzling one. if he wants to see failure he should look at his own record as governor. when his state was 47th out of 50 in job creation, and -- in coming out of the recession, he

was in in 2001 as governor, he was one of only six states as governor that never recovered all of their jobs. so -- he would know something about failure. >> he made a strong point today going out of his way in his speech to go after the president on the president's position towards israel. you are a strong supporter of israel. he said the president of the united states is treating the israelis like the europeans treat the israelis. abandoning israel during a critical time. i know you are concerned about this. what do you say? >> actually, i strongly support president obama's position on making sure that we can preserve israel and as a jewish democratic state. it is absolutely essential we con to push hard to make sure their hamas, which is a terrorist organization, as the president publicly put the -- labeled them, that they -- aren't -- israelis aren't expected to negotiate with a terrorist negotiation and make sure that -- as few countries as possible recognize a unilateral

declaration when that happens, which is likely to happen, at the u.n. in the fall, we have to make sure that we can continue to help the peace process or -- get restarted and the only way that's going to happen is if we make progress. the president indicated that the negotiations when they do restart should begin at the '67 lines. by definition it means that they would not be the '67 borders. those are indefensible and president made that clear. we need to stop playing politics with our support for its real and need to come together as democrats and republicans always have and stand strongly behind israel. >> let's talk about your colleague, anthony weiner. i noticed on the house floor, you had an animated conversation with him today. what were you talking to him about? >> i was actually talking to him about the votes we were -- we were casting at the moment. you know, what anthony weiner is dealing with right now is a personal matter.

that's where it should be left. >> listen to what steny hoyer said today. he gave him some advice, number two democrat in the house. i will play the clip. >> we had a discussion. i told him that he needed to handle this and needed to give the facts to the public. >> reporter: has he done that to your satisfaction? >> frankly, i have not been following it. i don't know whether he has done th that. >> do you agree with steny hoyer? >> i think this is a personal matter and that's how it should be left. >> eric cantor, the republican, majority leader in the house of representatives, he says that anthony weiner has a lot more explaining to do, if you will. >> anthony weiner is dealing with a personal matter and should be left as a personal matter. >> do you believe someone did hack into his account and -- send out that picture as he says. >> i think anthony weiner is dealing with a personal matter and that is where it should be

left. >> there are some that say there -- he is a member of congress and should be a formal investigation. as the leader of the democratic party is this becoming a distraction this just something that you think will blow over? >> i think it is important that we focus on job creation and we focus on continuing to turn the economy around and as the leader of the democratic party, i think it is very clear republicans -- particularly those that are running the house of representatives haven't done a single thing to focus on job creation and not brought a single bill to the house floor in the six months they have been in charge and that's what we should be focusing on. >> let me ask you about your good friend, congresswoman gabrielle giffords. how is she doing? all of us are deeply concerned, as you know. >> she is doing well. she came through the surgery last week very well. she's continuing to make progress. her birthday is next week. i know she and her family are looking forward to that. she continues to make remarkable progress. i know she is very happy mark is back i'm happy he's back and happy she is making remarkable

progress. i'm happy. i know she is happy. she has a good friend like you as well. >> thank you. >> congresswoman, thanks very much for coming in. we will continue our conversation. congresswoman wassermann, new chair of the democratic committee. let's continue the conversation with our senior political analyst david gergen. he is joining us right now. david, on the romney issue, you are often in massachusetts. cambridge. harvard. this whole business, announcing a big day like today in his race important the white house, sarah palin by coincidence shows up in new hampshire. rudy giuliani by coincidence shows up in new hampshire. what's happening? >> reporter: it must be very frustrating to mitt romney and his team. here he is, as you well know, as the front-runner in the republican sxak ahead in the polls and way ahead in the money. a much stronger sxorgs has the name recognition and state like new hampshire next door to massachusetts, lawn everyone his

campaign in. yet, here he is. it was sarah palin and -- giuliani getting the publicity on this day. i think it -- beyond the fact he has all these advantages, he -- still remains to a lot of people in the press in particular as predictable, dull. as scripted. and he has to overcome that. he has to become the candidate who surprises you occasionally with something he has as opposed to that's what you would expect him to say. sarah palin, of course, is the other end of the spectrum. totally unpredictable. he has this -- he is the steak but she has the sizzle. that makes a big difference in what the press covers and i -- as i say, it must be frustrating for him. he is trying to get the message out and on message on the right message about jobs and economy. i think debbie wassermann-schultz is very promising as -- leader of the democratic party but has it wrong on where the economy is. this is a softening economy. it does important the first time give the republicans some real fighting chance to get back in

this game against barack obama. >> you remember, david, it was so much worse three years ago. economy than it is right now that -- stock market, dow jones was 6500. it is now over 12,000. that's one indicator alone that -- the economy seems to be moving in the right direction. even though it is month where near where it should be. >> well, wolf, it is true that the economy overall economic activity in this country is now back to what it was before we went in the deep dive. you know, as we returned to this level we have 7 million fewer jobs than we had when this recession started. the -- overall household wealth and assets in this country are down $7 trillion from where we started. now we have this deluge of reports. we will have to see. debbie wassermann schultz cited the last month's job numbers, over 200,000 created. tomorrow morning we will hear what the new number is and it could be quite a lot less than that. that's the issue, the economy

losing steam, and that's where the -- republicans, frankly, i think that washington has to pay far more attention to not just the deficit but is this -- economy losing steam, dough would very some risk after double dip? >> issue number one to be sure the economy and jobs. by the way, 8:30 tomorrow morning, announcing the new unemployment number. i want our viewers to tune in to "american morning." i have the time exactly, 8:30. the war on drugs, is it time for the u.s. to surrender some very powerful people are are suggesting the answer is yes. imagine if your computer was stolen and you can use a hidden program to take photos of the thief, a man in california did exactly that. you are going to find out if he was able to follow the clues to track down his stolen mac.

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very powerful people are suggesting it is time important the u.s. to rethink the war on drugs. cnn's lisa sylvester is back with an in-depth look. >> it has been 40 years since president nixon declared a war on drugs. now a high-profile panel says that war is unwinnable and that it is time to look at other strategies including legalizing drugs. use of opiates up 3 34.5%. cocaine use up 27%. and marijuana use is up 8.5%.

that's according to u.n. data cited in a new report of the global commission on drug policy. the commission bluntly says the global war on drugs has been a failure and says it is time for countries to change their policies. commission member and ceo of virgin atlantic richard branson. >> can't afford to keep the drug policy as it is. it is costing them more and more every year to achieve something which, you know, where her just not winning. not achieving anything. >> reporter: commission made up of heavy hitters, former u.s. secretary general kofi annan. former secretary of state george schultz. former chairman of the u.s. federal reserve paul volcker and various former latin american presidents. they urge, quote, to end the criminalization marginalization and stigmatization of people that use drugs but do no harm to others and recommend governments experience with models of legalizing drugs to reduce the power and influence of drug

cartels. >> they don't consider any more -- drugs a crime. they consider it is a problem of the health system. opened the health system to people so people can go and try to find the solutions to the problem. >> reporter: a spokesman for hazelton that operates treatment centers for drug and alcohol addictions agrees the war on drugs has been a pailure. and applauds the roar's conclusion for treating drug use as a health issue. the group strongly opposes legalizing drugs. >> if i can speak professionally has somebody that works for the hazelton foundation but i also know in my personal life whatever the drug of choice is, when you put that into the mind and into the body of an addict or alcoholic like me, they lose the power of making the right choices. >> reporter: the white house office of national drug control policy did not make anyone available for an interview. the bottom line is that balance drug control efforts are making a big difference. today drug use in america is

half of what it was 30 years ago. cocaine production in colombia has dropped by would-thirds and successfully diverting nonviolence offenders into treatment instead of jail by supporting alternatives to incarceration. the white hou-- he has been about moving away from the language on drugs and wants to focus on reducing drug use by 15% over the next five years, wolf. >> tough, tough issue. i have been watching it for 40 years. it doesn't seem to be making any progress whatsoever. thanks very much. a stolen laptop secretly takes pictures of the alleged thief by helping its owner to recover it. stands by. sweet & salty nut bars... they're made from whole roasted nuts and dipped in creamy peanut butter, making your craving for a sweet & salty bar irresistible, by nature valley. you can do this... get the ball, girl.

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a california man took action when someone stole his laptop by using secret software. cnn's silicone valley core accident dan simon is joining us live with details. what happened here? >> reporter: here have you this very tech savvy guy solve his own criminal case, handed it to the oakland police out of silver dash on a silver platter. getting them to action, that was a different story.

a burglar ransacked his apartment and took his laptop but joshua kaufmann knew something the chief didn't. he install ad security application called hidden. it secretly takes screen wraps and pin points the computer's location and snaps photos. >> when you saw that first image pop up, what did you think? >> i was secretly takes screen pinpoints the computer's location and snaps photos. >> what did you think when you saw the image? >> i was amazed and impressed it was working. i never tested it out so i didn't know if it would work or not. >> it worked. the app began streaming images of the man in possession of kaufman's lap top. he could view the images by logging into his hidden app dot com account on any computer. >> i was thinking this sucks. someone's had my computer and has deleted all my stuff. there is nothing i can do about it. >> one moment he is in a car, shirtless in bed, or even sleeping on the couch. >> people sleep in front of

their computers all the time but they don't realize they're captured on camera. >> kaufman presented the sleuth data to an oakland detective but in a high crime city like oakland stolen lap tops are hardly a priority. >> his first response was i hate to be the one to tell you this but we just do not have the resources to deal with this right now. we're too busy. >> reporter: after weeks of inaction kaufman put it all on a blog. guy staring deliriously into my mac book read one post. guy deleting my account said another. >> i sent the blog because i was frustrated and i wanted my story to get some more media attention hoping that it would cause the police to act. >> reporter: his strategy paid off. the blog generated thousands of tweets. police started getting calls from the media. just like that, they called to tell him they tracked the man down and made an arrest. who is this guy? he is a 27-year-old oakland limo driver booked on charges of possessing stolen property. he reportedly told the cops the

computer had been given to him as a gift but thought it may have been stolen and that he should have known better. >> it was a relief to know all my effort paid off. i was just excited that it actually worked. >> reporter: it proved that security applications work and that sometimes a little public shame can work in your favor. well, let's finally give credit to the oakland police for getting involved no matter why they got involved. in any event let's also give credit to that computer's software program, wolf, that i suspect a lot more people are downloading today. back to you. >> you're probably right. thanks very much. dan simon. let's go to jack right now with the cafferty report. >> the burning question of this hour is can congressman anthony weiner survive weinergate? ed in pennsylvania writes i like anthony weiner. however, if he didn't do it why doesn't he simply deny it and then turn it over to law enforcement? he said he's hiring a firm to determine whether or not to turn it over to law enforcement. i've been victimized on the

internet. i have immediately turned it over to law enforcement but astoundingly good results. i'd like to continue to like anthony weiner because i've always found him forth right and direct but now he is squirrely and circuitous. leading me and others to think he is not such a straight arrow. donald in california, i'm a fan of the congressman but his mumbling with this issue doesn't pass the smell test. first time i've seen him at a a loss for words. kathy writes given his avoidance of any clear answer and his arrogance, his downfall is imminent. susan in colorado, nope, if he flatly denied it several days ago and then shut up he might have had a chance. but the more he talked, the worse he looked and now i think he's toast. m. in texas writes of course he'll survive. i don't know if i can though. the endless sea of news media reporting over stupid stuff annihliates all reason. palin taking a bus ride. who cares what she does? a picture of a man in his underwear. how sexually repressed are we as people where anything concerning

genitals gets this kind of coverage? josh in new york writes, there is only a weinergate because you all are covering it as such. compare to schwarzenegger. we know that's a scandal because there's an actual child who was born. or larry craig, the guy was arrested by an actual cop. what is the core fact in the weiner case? he says he didn't send the picture. she says she didn't receive the picture. where's the transgression? i can't find one. how about fewer questions about whose crotch is in the photo and more, you know, journalism. if you want to read more on this, it's an entertaining e-mail, go to my blog cnn.com/cafferty report. >> i've been getting hundreds of tweets very much like that. a lot of e-mail. folks aren't very happy. >> did you see the front pages of the new york tabloids by any chance? i mean, this is such tailor made red meat for them it's unbelievable. >> see you tomorrow. up next jeanne moos with a different take on the congressman and the controversy.

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>> weinergate. >> weiner is in a bit of hot water. >> reporter: leaving those of us in the media searching for the right words to mention the unmentionable. >> bulging underwear. >> bulging underpants. >> sending a picture that aroused -- well anyway -- >> yes it might have been my area. >> below the waist area. >> it may or may not be his package. >> reporter: what is being delivered often comes in puns from front pages meant to tickle to editorials. >> this weiner is cooked. >> is this or is this not representative rooener's chief of staff? >> reporter: as the "new york times" reporter tweeted all the bad weiner puns show that america is emotionally a sixth grader. >> the long and short of it is over the weekend you discovered -- >> you didn't just introduce that by saying the long and short of it did you earl? >> reporter: congressman weiner is even punning himself. >> one of the reasons i was perhaps a little bit stiff

yesterday. >> reporter: everything is starting to look weiner like. there are weiner cartoons. isn't that anthony weiner in the ballet tights? the news is coming across as comedy. >> do you guys know what your drawers look like? >> of course. i know what i look like in my drawers. i can identify my pelvis in a lineup. >> reporter: some can identify with anthony weiner. >> the guy behind the camera, what is your last name? >> weiner. >> just give me the camera. all right. talk to me about being a weiner. >> well, it's not that bad. >> actually we both know a little bit about being called weiner. look what my high school nickname was, inscribed even in my yearbook. wiener. because i was so tall and skinny. but no one has -- just watch where you point that thing ♪ hoechlt i'd love to be an oscar meyer wiener ♪ >> anyone named